Rotary internal combustion engine



Oct. 13, 1964 R.A.1.ARCHER, sR.. ETAL 3,152,582

ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE y 3 /LZZ -arl Oct. 13, 1964 R. A. LARCHER, SR.. ErAl. 3,152,582

ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed July 18. 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 han c7115 United States Patent O 3,152,582 ROTARY INTERNAL CGM'BUSTIGN ENGlNE Rudolph A. Larcher, Sr., 422i) S. 27th E., Salt Lake City 17, Utah, and Guy Prichard, deceased, late of Price, Utah, by Bert L. Prichard, executor, Box 690,

Price, Utah Filed July 18, 1961, Ser. No. 125,016 5 Claims. (Cl. 1'23-16) This invention relates generally to a combustion operated device and more particularly to a rotary internal combustion engine.

The prior art includes numerous internal combustion devices which are adapted to rotate a power shaft or the like upon reciprocating movement of the power producing means. Most of these internal combustion devices are probably intended to function as efficient power producing means. However, in order to attain a certain horse power rating the prior art devices must necessarily use a substantial portion of the total horsepower developed in operating the internal components of the engine, thus limiting or substantially lowering the possible efficiency of the device. In the prior art devices the operation of, for example, the exhaust valves, the intake valves, and the movement of each piston through either two or four cycles prior to each power stroke are responsible for such lowering of the engine eiiiciency. The movement of each piston through its reciprocating cycle of operation is by far the greatest power robbing operation of all in that a great amount of the energy produced within the engine must be used internally to stop the downward movement of the piston during the power stroke and return it back up into the cylinder at least once prior to the next power stroke. It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a novel internal combustion engine wherein the above mentioned power robbing operations are substantially eliminated. Stated in another manner, one of the principal objects is to provide an internal combustion engine which does not utilize a power producing reciprocating piston stroke in the two or four cycle variation nor valve operations as known in the art, but rather a rotary internal combustion system capable of producing a plurality of power pulses in a single revolution.

Another object is to provide a combustion device in which a minimum number of moving parts are employed, thus insuring greater efficiency and longer engine life.

A further object is to provide a combustion engine in which the vector of power always acts at an angle of 90 to the output shaft.

A still further object is to provide a rotary combustion engine in which there are no inlet and exhaust valves of the type normally used in the prior art combustion engines.

And yet another object is to provide a combustion devise in which the compression ratios can be readily changed.

Gther and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description. The preferred embodiment illustrated is not intended to be exhaustive nor to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. lt is chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and their application in practical use to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and modifications as are best adapted to the particular use contemplated.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. l` is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating the ice power producing section and the intake and compression section;

FIG. 2 is a partly cut-away transverse view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. l showing the intake and compression section;

FIG. 3 is a partly cut-away transverse view illustrating some portions in section and taken along line 3-3 of FIG. l showing the power producing section; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side-view of the outlet in a movable sleeve.

Described generally the present device as shown in FIGS. l-3 comprises a pair of attached annular housings each having a plurality of spaced apart circumferentially extending recesses on the inner surface thereof and a plurality of ports extending through the housing and communicating with the recesses. Each housing contains a rotary flywheel-like member which is rigidly attached to the rotary member in the other housing. One rotary member is provided with reciprocal blade means which are adapted to extend into the recesses while the other rotary member is provided with movable sleeve means which have piston means positioned therein.

A cam means is positioned in an operable relation to the piston for controlling the movement of the latter. A fuel-air mixture is dravm through one set of the ports into the housing containing the blade means, which is the fuelair intake and compressing section, and is compressed by the sweeping movement of the blade means through a recess. The compressed mixture passes into the sleeve of the second housing, which is the power producing section, through suitable passage means. The piston is then forced up into the sleeve by the cam means for closing the passage means and further compressing the mixture which, when the movement of the rotary member aligns the sleeve means with a recess, passes into a recess where combustion takes place to effect rotation of both rotary members and an attached output shaft.

With further reference to the drawings, the combustion system of the present invention, generally indicated at 10 includes an intake and compressing section 11, as best shown in FlG. 2 comprising a ring shaped member 12 having a plurality of recesses 13, shown as three, on the inner surface thereof. The recesses 13 extend across the full width -of the member 12 and are provided with gradually sloping end walls, one of which may be slightly steeper than the other. An inlet port 14 may be placed adjacent the slightly steeper end wall of each recess so as to provide the recess with a fuel and air mixture from a carburetor or any suitable fuel and air supply means. Side walls 15 and 16 (FlG. l) are attached to the ring shaped member 12 by suitable attaching means, such as, for example, bolts or the like, and provide therebetween a concave annularly shaped configuration generally indicated at 17. The concave shaped configuration 17 contains a centrally recessed rotary flywheel-like member 18 which is adapted to abut in a substantially fluid tight arrangement the non-recessed portions or lands 19 between adjacent recesses 13 of the member 12 and the side walls 15 and 16 and yet allow relatively free rotary movement of the flywheel 18. While the flywheel 1S is shown solid because of its desirable weight advantage it will appear obvious to those skilled in the art to use, if desired, a lighter flywheel, such as, for example, a reinforced hollow flywheel or the like.

The flywheel 18 contains a plurality of bores 20, shown as live, therein, which may be formed by a casting operation, drilling, machining, or in any other suitable manner, and which are adapted to extend from the outer periphery thereof to predetermined locations 21 in a side wall of the flywheel 18. It may be desirable to place a check valve or the like in each bore 20 so as to maintain a supply of the compressed fuel-air mixture within each bore 20, thus eliminating the need to re-compress the portion of the charge not used in the power section. Adjacent each bore is a rectangularly shaped slot or pocket 22 which spans the full width of the flywheel 18. A hollow rectangular piston-like blade 23 ts within the full width of pocket 22 and is urged outwardly towards the member 12 by one or more suitable compression springs 24 or the like, which may be placed within the hollow interior of the blade 23 and abut against the fiat or otherwise configured base 25 of the pocket 22. While each blade 23 may be placed in its respective pocket 22 is a close fitting relationship to the walls of the pocket, it may be desirable to provide suitable piston rings or the like on the outer surface of the blade 23 for acting as a lubricating oil seal and for reducing friction. Also to use pockets and blades of shapes other than rectangular will appear obvious to others skilled in the art when practicing the invention.

The intake section 11, above described, is adapted to produce a precompressed fuel and air mixture or charge for the power section 27 by the movement of the blades 23 through recesses 13 which create a lowered pressure or vacuum on the side of the blade adjacent the inlet 14 for pulling the charge into the recess 13 through the intake port 14 and simultaneously producing on the other side thereof a compressing action upon the charge pulled into the recesses 13 by another blade 23 immediately in front thereof. Therefore, each blade 23 functions to entrain a charge for a following blade and also compresses the charge entrained by the preceding blade The blades 23 are held against the inner surface of the ring member 12 by both the compression springs 24 and centrifugal force. Thus, the charge in front of each blade is compressed in the chambered recess area 13 formed by ring member 12 and flywheel 18 and forced into the bores 20 for subsequent use within the power section 27.

The power section generally indicated at 27 (FlGS. 1 and 3) may be constructed in a manner somewhat similar to the intake section 11 in that it comprises a ring shaped member 28 having a plurality of recesses 29 therein, shown as three in number, which may be shaped similarly to recesses 13 in the intake section 11, side walls 30 and 31 securely attached to the ring-shaped member 28, and a bored rotary flywheel member 32 in the hollow housing formed by the Side walls 3i?, 31 and the ring shaped member 28. The housing portion of the power section 27 may have the same overall internal and external diameters as the intake section 11, but could be of any desirable size. Exhaust ports 33 communicate with the recesses 29 and are arranged on the peripheral surface of the ring shaped member 28 adjacent the gradually sloping end wall of each recess 29 or near the far end of each recess 29 when compared to the inlet ports 14 on the intake section 11. It may be desirable to cover the exterior surface of the power section 27 with cooling fins or the like to maintain the power section at a cool operating temperature. The flywheel 32 contains a plurality of slots or pockets 34 which may be formed in the same manner as bores 2G in flywheel 18. Each pocket 34 extends the full width of the flywheel 32 and may terminate at a depth corresponding to the depth of pocket 22 in the intake section 11. Additional ducts or pockets 35 communicate with bores 34 approximately at the midpoint thereof and are arranged to extend inwardly through the iiywheel 32 to a point 36 on the side 37 of the iiywheel 32 which is at the same level as the outlet ports 21 in flywheel 1S of the intake section 11, thus providing through-going passages for supplying pockets 34 with the precompressed fuel-air mixture from the intake section 11.

A spacing member 39 having perforations 4t) therein may be placed between the intake section 11 and the power section 27 and may be rigidly attached to the flywheels 18 and 32 by bolt means 411 or the like which pass through both tlywheels so as to form a unitary structure. The perforations d@ communicate with the port openings 21 and T26, so as to form a portion of the through-going passages. When using the spacing member 39, the side walls 16 and 31 may be joined together in the form of an annular U- shaped end wall common to both sections.

Each pocket 3dcontains a rectangularly shaped sleeve or liner e2 having one end d3 closed and is capable of relatively free movement up and down within the pocket 34. It may also be desirable to provide suitable seals adjacent one or each end of the sleeve 42 for maintaining fiuid tight relationship between the pockets 34 and sleeves d2. Each sleeve 42 may preferably be substantially the length of the pocket and be provided with an orifice 44 in a sidewall thereof which establishes communication with bore 35 when said sleeve is fully within the pocket 34. Each sleeve d2, in turn, contains therein a rectangularly shaped piston d5. Piston rings or the like may be provided in the usual manner between the piston 45 and the sleeve 42 to effect a suitable fluid and lubricating oil seal. A piston rod 46 may be rigidly attached to each piston 45 and provided with, at the opposite end thereof, a pair of radially extending ear like bearing projections d3 which are placed one on each side of the rod 46. To use pockets, bores, pistons and sleeves of any suitable shape other than rectangular will be obvious to others skilled in the art when practicing the invention.

Each flywheel 18 and 32 may be provided with a centrally located, recess portion which lends to the compact design of the engine and also provides a suitable housing for the cam structure to be described below. A passage 49 is provided through the center of each flywheel and the spacing member 39 for the purpose of housing a power output shaft Si), which may be fixed to the power section and intake section by a suitable spline and groove arrangement or in any other preferred manner. Side walls 15 and 3@ are shown extending the full width of the combustion device 1t) and are provided with centrally located apertures 53 and 54 respectively, which permit the passage of the power shaft 50 therethrough. A stationary cam member 5S is placed in the Space between the centrally recessed portion of the flywheel 32 and side wall 3f) and is secured to the latter by bolt means or the like 56. The cam member 55 has an enlarged bore 57 therethrough in which a suitable thrust bearing means 58 may be mounted in a surrounding manner about the shaft Sil for permitting the latter to freely rotate with respect to the stationary housing portion. Additional bearing means 59 may be placed within the aperture 53 of side wall 15 for rotatably supporting the power shaft at both ends of the engine lil. The shaft 59 is shown smaller at one end thereof which may be used for driving accessories, such as, for example, oil pump, distributor, etc. and may also have attached thereto a suitable starting means for providing the initial rotation of the rotary flywheels 1S and 32. However, it is possible to use a power shaft of equal diameter throughout its length.

The stationary cam 55 comprises a pair of spaced side walls 60 and 61 which form a U-shaped slot 62 about the entire periphery of the cam (FIG. l). Each side wall 60 and 61 contains an inwardly spaced annular groove 63 communicating with the slot 62 and is of a desired contour for controlling the movement of each piston 45 with- 1n the sleeve d2. Each piston rod 46 extends into the U- shaped slot 62 between the cam side walls 66 and 61 with one of the radially extending ear like bearing projections 43 nesting in each of the grooves 63. Thus, when it is desired to deliver a fuel charge from the intake section 11 into the sleeve 42 of power section 27, the rotary movement of the flywheel 32, which may be initiated by any suitable starting device, causes the sleeve 42, which is normally urged outwardly by centrifugal force and by the internally confined pressurized fuel-air mixture, to come into contact with a non-recessed portion or land 64 on the inner surface of ring member 28; such contact forces the sleeve 42 inwardly into the pocket 34 and effects alignment of the orifice 44 in the sleeve 42 with an inlet opening from the fuel charge supply bore 35. Substanti-ally simultaneously with the inward movement of the sleeve 42, the grooves 63 of the cam member 55 turn inwardly toward the shaft 50 and the piston rod projections 48 are forced hy the ywheel movement to ride in the cam groove contour, thus pulling the piston 45 into the lower portion of the sleeve 42. When the limit of inward movement of the sleeve 42 has been reached and the orifice 44 is aligned with an inlet from a bore 35, the piston 45 will be below the orifice 44, permitting the fuel charge to enter into the sleeve 42. The piston 45 and sleeve 42 remain in this position for a `sufiicient time to obtain the desired charge, then the grooves 63 turn outwardly moving the piston 45 up into the sleeve 42 to cover the orifice 44. As the flywheel 32 continues to rotate the grooves 63 cause the piston 45 to continue moving outwardly in the sleeve 42 further compressing the charge as it moves. The iiywheel 32 moves the sleeve 42 into a position adjacent a slanted end wall of a recess 29 where it is capable of being acted upon by centrifugal force and by the compressed charge within the sleeve 42 to move outwardly and tightly abut the surface of ring shaped member 28 forming the recess 29. After .the sleeve 42 has moved -a `short distance into a recess 29 the openings 66 (FIG. 4), which may have converging sidewalls for added resistance to the gases from entering the sleeve 42 from the recesses 29, are positioned adjacent the top -to the sleeve 42 for allowing the highly compressed charge to pass into the `combustion zone 65 defined .and formed by the Wall of recess 29, the

side walls 30, 31, the liywheel 32 and the sleeve 42. A suitable ignition means, such as, for example, spark plugs or the like may be appropriately positioned within the ring member 28 so as to communicate with the surface of the steep end wall of recess 29 and ignite the charge. The combustion of the charge instantly imposes a force against the side wall of sleeve 42 -adjacent the combustion zone 65. This force is transferred to the flywheel 32 causing the latter to rotate in a clockwise direction.

Just prior to the instant combustion 4takes place, the piston movement and compression of the charge may be momentarily interrupted by providing the groove incline with a suitable taper 67. Thus, when combustion takes place and rotates the flywheel 32 the combustion zone 65 rapidly increases in area, the piston 45 is again moved outwardly bythe incline of the grooves 63 to further compress the charge and maintain a substantially constant pressure within the combustion zone. The shape of the groove contour moves the piston 45 to a position substantially against the top of the sleeve 42 as the latter nears the far end of the recess 29 and as the gradually sloping end wall of the recess 29 begins to force the sleeve 42 inwardly into the pocket, the contour of the grooves 63 turns inwardly toward the shaft pulling the piston 45 back down into the lower portion of the sleeve 42 in order to receive the next fuel charge.

In addition to the sleeve 42 acting against the liywheel 32 to rotate the latter when the sleeve 42 is within a recess 29 it also acts upon lthe exhaust gases remaining within the recess 29 from the power stroke of the piston and sleeve arrangement immediately in front thereof to move the exhaust gases out of the exhaust ports 33.

While `ve blades land five sleeves and pistons are shown operating within three recesses in both the intake section 11 and the power section 27 respectively, it wi-ll be obvious to others skilled in the art, vwhen practicing the invention, to use any desired number of blades, pistons and sleeves in any number of recesses.

Thus it will be seen that the combustion device is oapable of ring and producing a power stroke for each piston and sleeve combination a plurality of times per single revolution, with each combination also acting as the means for removing exhaust gases from Within the engine that remain from the prior piston and sleeve combination. The internal components of intake section may be arranged in such a manner as to have the charge in its greatest possible precompressed state just as the orilice 44 in the sleeve 42 of the power section 27 is uncovered by the piston 45, thus obtaining the greatest possible compression ratio. By using a plurality of piston and sleeve combinations in a combustion section having several combustion zones it will be possible to have at least one piston and `sleeve combination on a power stroke at any given time period, thus insuring smooth engine operation. A change in the compression ratio of the engine may be readily made externally of the engine by providing the wall 30 with slots for the bolts 56, thus by rotating the cam 55 in either direction the arrival time of the piston at the top of its stroke can be varied to change the compression ratio.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein without departing from the spirit .and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We claim:

l. A combustion device of the character described comprising the combination of a fuel combustion section including a generally annularly disposed peripheral wall provided at an inner surface thereof with a circumferentially extending recess defining a combustion zone, a rotary means rotatable within said peripheral Wall and having a generally radially extending pocket, passage means for conducting a partially compressed fuelaair mixture into said pocket, a reciprocal sleeve member in said pocket having ports for controlling fuel-air entry thereinto and discharge therefrom into said combustion zone, a reciprocating piston in said sleeve member to further compress and displace the fuel-air mixture from the sleeve member at predetermined times, and cam means operatively associated with said piston for controlling reciprocation there of to controllably displace the fuel-air mixture into the combustion zone to maintain a substantally constant combustion pressure therein.

2. The device clai-med in claim 1 wherein the peripheral wall is provided with a plurality of spaced apart circumferentially extending recesses, and wherein the rotary means is provided with a plurality of generally radially extending pockets each containing a reciprocal sleeve member with a reciprocating piston therein.

3. The device claimed in claim 1 wherein said cam means is stationary with respect to said rotary means, and wherein a piston rod means extends from said piston `and engages portions of said cam means to be carried thereby.

4. The device claimed in claim 1 wherein the passage means is adapted to communicate with a fuel-air compressing means for receiving a partial-ly compressed charge of the fuel-air mixture therefrom.

5. The device claimed in claim 1 wherein said passage means communicates with said pocket at the middpoint thereof, one of the ports in said sleeve member aligns with said passage means when said sleeve member is substantially fully within said pocket, and wherein entry of the fuel-air mixture into said sleeve member through said one port is controlled by said piston.

References Cited in the lile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,303,134 Vawter May 6, 1919 1,722,057 McConkey et al. July 23, 1929 1,792,026 Nichols Feb. 10, 1931 2,075,561 Wellensiek Mar. 30, 1937 2,158,532 Bullen May 16, 1939 2,473,785 Cate June 21, 1949 2,511,441 Loubiere lune 13, 1950 2,812,748 Sirnonian Nov. 12, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 673,409 France Oct. 8, 1929 

1. A COMBUSTION DEVICE OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED COMPRISING THE COMBINATION OF A FUEL COMBUSTION SECTION INCLUDING A GENERALLY ANNULARLY DISPOSED PERIPHERAL WALL PROVIDED AT AN INNER SURFACE THEREOF WITH A CIRCUMFERENTIALLY EXTENDING RECESS DEFINING A COMBUSTION ZONE, A ROTARY MEANS ROTATABLE WITHIN SAID PERIPHERAL WALL AND HAVING A GENERALLY RADIALLY EXTENDING POCKET, PASSAGE MEANS FOR CONDUCTING A PARTIALLY COMPRESSED FUEL-AIR MIXTURE INTO SAID POCKET, A RECIPROCAL SLEEVE MEMBER IN SAID POCKET HAVING PORTS FOR CONTROLLING FUEL-AIR ENTRY THEREINTO AND DISCHARGE THEREFROM INTO SAID COMBUSTION ZONE, A RECIPRO- 